December 3, 2023
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My Dear Parishioners,
Deacon Pashley gave a fantastic homily on Thanksgiving Day at Mass and he made a marvelous connection between gratitude and the Mass. I think it fits right in with our Advent Eucharist Revival! So, his homily is reproduced here for your edification. We are thankful to Deacon Pashley for his witness to the love of God shown to us daily in the Holy Eucharist with his carefully thought out and prayed-out homely! - Padre
Seasons change. This beautiful autumn will eventually give way to winter, winter to spring, spring to summer and so on. In his wisdom, God structured the liturgical seasons of the Church in a way that compliments the natural seasons. They change to allow us to anticipate and experience certain aspects of the truth Jesus Christ as we move through the year. While seasons change, God does not. Neither does the truth, which is that Jesus suffered, died, and is risen. He gave us the Church to remain in him and the seasons of the Church help us in that regard.
Advent is a season of anticipation as well as repentance. We are eager for the coming of the savior as the Child Jesus, while at the same time keep constant vigil for day he will come in glory. As we anticipate and keep vigil we return to him again and again in the Eucharist. The readings throughout the liturgical year prepare us to receive Jesus there.
On Thanksgiving we heard the story of the ‘thankful leper’ from the gospel of Luke. Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned to thank him. That story follows a pattern of sorts that is imbedded in the story of our salvation. Those lepers recognized Jesus as he walked the road to Jerusalem. They called out to him in their suffering and asked him to heal them. Jesus referred them to the priests and the ritual cleansing prescribed by God in the book of Leviticus. Then he healed them. When the so-called thankful leper, a Samaritan, returned to thank Jesus he remarked that only one of ten returned. He sent the thankful leper on his way, healed by his faith.
We are meant to see ourselves here. We are in need of healing and call out to Jesus for his mercy. Think of the first few minutes of Mass in which we repeatedly plead “Lord have Mercy.” We turn to Jesus because we recognize that he is the one who can save us. We do so at Mass, the fulfillment of all rituals, instituted by Jesus so that we can come to him again and again in faith to receive his Grace. At the end of Mass we are sent to proclaim the good news, the Gospel, in the context of our lives. We are healed in faith and are meant to share the fruit of our encounter with Jesus in all aspects of our life.
This pattern for our salvation plays out throughout the bible and has its fulfillment in the celebration of the Eucharist. A lovely example of the way God has prepared us for this sacrament can be found in Psalm 107, which reads in part:
Some were sick through their sinful ways and because of their iniquities suffered affliction…and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; He sent forth his word, and healed them, and delivered them from destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works in the sons of men! And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
We make our way through the liturgical seasons, beginning with Advent, to constantly prepare ourselves to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Take the time to prepare ahead of time for every Mass by praying with the readings. Pray also that you will come to recognize Jesus as he reveals himself to us, call out to him for his mercy, receive him in faith, and go forth to share him with the people you meet in your daily life.
Deacon Greg
